Visalia Power Outage: Lightning Strike Near Fresno Leaves 120,000 Households Without Power

Current outages around Visalia and other areas, as of 1 a.m. PDT. (Screenshot/SCE)

A lightning strike late August 19 that hit a substation in Visalia disrupted power to at least 120,000 households.

The strike, which happened at 7 p.m. PDT, hit a SCE substation in Visalia, which is southeast of Fresno, said SCE. Visalia city officials estimated about 500,000 people were impacted by the power losses, according to the Visalia Times-Delta.

Cities impacted by the power outage include Visalia, Tulare, Farmersville, Hanford, Woodlake.

Power came back on throughout these areas as the night turned into August 20. SCE said at 9:52 a.m. PDT that crews have restored power to more than 80 percent of the households that lost power during the lightning strike.

“For those who remain w/out power due to the widespread damage, our crews are working hard to safely restore ALL power asap,” the company said.